The Squib
by SomeoneIsAlwaysForgotten
Summary: Set in an Alternate Universe years before the rise of Voldermort a young muggle born wich named Esme Lagan came to Hogwarts. A clouded past and an unlikely friendship Esme enters the world of magic.
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

It was the third day of school and she had already landed herself in Filch's office. She stood in front of his desk as he scowled filling out a form for her punishment, occasionally he would look up at her with a nasty grin. She looked up to the ceiling, the office was illuminated by a single oil lamp, swaying slightly from the ceiling. Suddenly the lamp hopped on the rope it hung from.  
Filch's face instantly turned beat red. "Peeves!" He bellowed storming out of the room.  
A large gray cat jumped onto the desk, looking at her with cold calculating eyes.  
She had heard stories of the cat and his master but to her the cat didn't seem to have the same sinister appearance her older classmates had claimed. Her thoughts drifted to her parents cat back home, she wondered how they were doing and if her parents were worried sending her to a school they had never even heard of until her letter for hogwarts arrived. As far as she knew she was the first witch to ever come from her family. She looked to the desk, an envelope sat on the desk and leaning over she could see that it was called kwickspells, she bit her lip recalling seeing an envelope with the same name in her parents mail. The events that lead her to standing in Filch's office hadn't been her fault she ended up being the person Filch directed his anger at. Two older classmates had set off firecrackers in a hallway and by the time Filch had reached the hall, she was the only person in sight and no amount of protesting would convince Filch she wasn't to blame. Apprehensively she reached out holding her hand in front of the cats face. Mister Norris sniffed it then leaned into her hand.  
She pet the cat for a moment before gently picking him up, stroking the long fur.  
Mister Norris purred and closed her eyes content.  
Filch entered the office again grumbling to himself. Seeing her holding his cat his face twisted into another scowl as he opened his mouth to yell at her, only to stop when he heard the cat purring. His eyebrows raised and he bit his lip, looking somewhat confused. "Have you bewitched my cat?" He asked accusingly.  
"N-no sir," she stammered. "I don't even know any magic yet.  
Filch said nothing though his expression showed surprise, rounding his desk to resume filling out the punishment form. "Name."  
"Esme Lagan," she replied softly still petting the purring cat. "He's an awfully old cat isn't he?" Esme smiled looking at her and scratched his chin with a fully white muzzle. "He's handsome."  
Filch looked up at her, his expression only softening slightly as he realized that she had genuinely meant it.  
Esme lifted her eyes to meet his, smiling despite the fact that he was in the middle of fililng out her punishment. Her eyes were yellow shining the color of pale gold, mirroring the cats. Gently she set mister Norris on the desk.  
With a sigh Filch crumpled the paper and slid it into a bin. "Go on get to class," he grumbled.  
Esme tilted her head. "You're not punishing me?"  
"Not this time," he mumbled.  
Esme started toward the door then looked back at the man still hunched over the desk and frowned slightly. "Could I come back and visit mister Norris sometime?" She asked hesitantly. "I don't have a cat of my own," she added quickly hoping it might convince him.  
Filch looked bewildered but nodded and waved his hand dismissing her.  
Smiling Esme ran out the door hearing the bell that signaled the end of her break and dismissed her to potions class she walked briskly down the hallways and stepped into the room breathlessly. Taking her place next to a lanky boy with a sour face she offered a small smile, to which he rolled his eyes looking ahead at the scowling potions master. After a brief lecture they were turned loose to replicate the potion.  
"Ethan," the dark haired lanky boy said finally.  
Esme looked up. "What?"  
"My name you twit. What's yours," he growled.  
"Esme," she murmured watching as the contents of her cauldron turned vivid purple, much to her surprise.  
Ethan looked over to her cauldron, his own staying deep green. "What did you do?" He grumbled.  
"You add the spider legs after the unicorn hair," she replied watching him do it in reverse order then the potion in his cauldron solidified and started smoking.  
The boy groaned watching the potions professor walk around the room peering into each cauldron. He stopped looking into Ethan's cauldron with a bewildered expression at the potion that now resembled smoldering gray cement. Shaking his head he looked into Esme's cauldron.  
"Awarding ten points," he said loudly for the class to hear, "miss Lagan is the only one to successfully brew the potion."  
The remainder of class passed quickly after that, despite feeling she knew nothing Esme was doing surprisingly well picking up magic quickly though she found that potions and charms were by far her favorite classes. Walking back to the common room with Ethan to do their potions homework Esme couldn't help her mind drifting back to the envelope on filches desk. She knew she had seen the envelope before but couldn't remember what it had been.  
"Ethan?" She asked hesitantly.  
Ethan grunted to show he was listening, still staring down at his potions book trying to figure out where he went wrong in the potion.  
"What is kwickspells?"  
Ethan looked up at at her, cold gray eyes scanning her. "It's a basically lessons teaching simple spells so witches or wizards can look like they know a bit of magic when they're horrible. Why?"  
"I saw it sitting on Filchs desk."  
He raised an eyebrow. "The squib is trying to learn magic from a kwickspells lesson?" He laughed, his smile widening to show pearly white teeth.  
Esme shrugged biting her lip. She had no idea what a squib is but from the way Ethan said it she doubted it was a good thing.  
Seeing her confusion Ethan groaned as they reached the entrance to their common room. "Mandrake," he said opening the passage in. "A squib is someone that is born to wizard parents but doesn't have the wizard gene. They're basically the opposite of a muggleborns."  
Esme frowned slightly. "So Filch can't use magic?"  
"No, I doubt he has any in him at all," Ethan laughed again ducking into the common room followed by Esme.  
"That's kinda sad really."  
"Down right pathetic," he replied  
"No I mean to grow up knowing about all of this then never being able to learn to do it. It must be horrible," she whispered.  
Ethan snorted shaking his head. "Don't feel to sorry for him. That cat of his has been watching me since we got sorted. I'm sure he has it out for me."  
"Mister Norris is a sweet cat. Maybe if you hadn't stepped on his tail on while we were waiting to be sorted he wouldn't think you're up to no good," she retorted her face flushing as red as her hair.  
Ethan rolled his eyes. "Yea we'll see you tomorrow. We have herbology first things"  
Esme started inching towards the first year girls room. "Yea see you in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Deal

Herbology was by far Esme's favorite class she had so far. Ever since she was a little girl she had a natural gift with plants, seeming to make anything she touched grow. Now that she was learning about the plants kept hidden from muggles her mind swam touching the fiery red leaves of the plant in front of her. In her mind the class had passed all too quickly and before she had gotten her fill of the plants the bell sounded across the school yard and class was dismissed. Ethan grumbled looking to Esme's smirking face, his robe sleeve scorched from handling his plant too roughly. As they walked Emse grinned seeing Flich's cat Mister Norris ahead of them and shover her books into Ethans arms before running ahead to pick the cat up.

"Seriously?" Ethan grumbled. "Im starting to think you like that stupid cat more than you do me."  
Esme looked to him with an eyebrow raised slightly, hugging the purring cat . "I never said that," she replied with an innocent smile. Looking back to the cat she tried to smooth its fur down. "Where is your master?" She asked as if he would answer her, instead her answer came from behind.

"Hes right here," Filch said gruffly.

Esme jumped and spun to look over her shoulder. She was met with a glare that showed past Filch's shaggy brown hair that hung in his face from the way he kept his head bowed but her smile didn't falter. "Hello Mister Filch," she replied cheerfully handing over the cat.

Filch raised his head slightly, giving her a mistrustful look but took his cat in his arms. Mister Norris hissed at Ethan, making the boy step back surprised. "You had best be getting to class," Filch grunted.

"Actually I have a free period," Esme replied brightly. "I had actually planned on coming to see you and mister norris."  
Filch stared at her for a moment before realizing that as before, she was being honest.

"Speak for yourself," Ethan grumbled walking ahead. "Stupid cat."  
Filch glared daggers into the back of Ethans head as he walked away while Esme fell into stride next to him walking toward the castle. With a heavy sigh Filch reluctantly accepted the girls presence at his side as they walked in an uncomfortable tense silence, to which Esme appeared to be completely oblivious to.

As they neared the castle Esme spoke again, the words slipping out before she could think better of it. "I saw the Kwickspells envelope on your desk," she said casually.

The color drained from Filch's face.

"From what I understand it doesnt really work. If you want to learn magic I can teach you as I learn."  
The color quickly returned to his face, now turning it bright red. He started to sputter angrily before realizing that she had offered to attempt to teach him magic. He inhaled sharply through his nose then let out his breath slowly, calming himself as he did so. "First year like you is going to teach me magic?" He snorted.

"I can try. I dont really know any myself remember. To be honest im afraid to use my wand."  
Filch snorted again, this time it was out of trying to contain his laughter.

"Think of it this way, we can learn together," she chirped, her cheeks turning as red as her hair.

With another sigh, he reluctantly nodded then looked to the sky as it began to darken, leaving the castle grounds dim and cold, feeling more like autumn than it had the last few weeks leading up to the start of the school year.

Esme skipped ahead to join a group of first year girls from her house.

One of the girls looked to Filch with a sneer and Filch felt his cheeks turn red with shame, even the brand new first years knew his reputation and his status as a squib.

Esme looked back to where she had left Filch, only to find him gone, Mister Norris stood in his place. She frowned slightly seeing that he had gone but returned her attention to the girls in her house.


End file.
